Why the Churches in Nigeria are not united - Prof. Arowolo

Prof. ArowoloAs part of the activities marking the Diamond Jubilee of the University of Ibadan, Professor of Veterinary Medicine, Reuben Adesanya Olabode Arowolo , former Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and the current chairman of the Chapel of the Resurrection and University Senior Staff Housing Committee bares his mind on the activities and contributions of the Chapel to the society, the evils of Military rule, the recent Jos crisis and the state of the Church, among others. He speaks with EBENEZER ADUROKIYA, recently. Excerpts:

THE Chapel of Resurrection is 60 years old. What prompted the establishment of a religious insti tution in an intellectual environment like this?
Yes, we thank God for the achievements so far and 60 years, in the life of a person or a group, is a time to rejoice; and this particular chapel was built on Jesus Christ right from the beginning in 1948 at Eleyele, when the university campus began. Some Christians, lecturers and students used to gather for fellowship and when they moved to the main campus, the idea of a centre for worship came up and with the help of the Christian Council of Nigeria,the university and individuals, the Chapel of Resurrection was dedicated in 1954. The fact is that any knowledge outside God is no knowledge; every intellectual knowledge has to be centred on Christ because in Christ is all wisdom and all knowledge. In fact,in the beginning, God created the World with the help of his Son, Jesus Christ.There is nothing that was created or made without Him; all things were made through Him. The White people knew the importance of a Godly living, that true knowledge can only be found in Christ Jesus.So, the fear of God has been the foundation of education at the University of Ibadan and besides, if you look at the university handbook, everything is centred on God. Yes, it’s an intellectual setting,however, everything is not just about intellectual knowlege but the knowledge that is applied in such a way that you will be a total man and that is why we have the mission to develop a total man. Without the spiritual and the physical aspects, you cannot be a total man or woman.

Where did the Church in the citadel of learning miss it when cultists suddenly took over the campus?
We usually talk about the good old time. You know, the first 30 years of University of Ibadan was a period of excellence; in fact, Ibadan was rated as one of the best 50 in the world. People came from all over the world to be trained here. Some of my students were Americans who graduated as veterinarians here and the teaching was both in learning and character. The environment in which they lived, the type of food they ate and the type of association they had had positive influence on them such that even what they now regard to as cultism was not violent. I remember the pirates and the buccaneers were like fun but I think I would want to say maybe one of the reasons is the militarization of Nigeria but unfortunately, when the military took over in 1966, we thought it was going to be for good but we found that it had had negative effects on the people and so, there was this idea of violence. The idea of buying a paper and putting your money there in the absence of the vendor or buying oranges and putting your money there even though the person selling it is not there, is no more the order of the day. So, you find later on that some of these children that were not well trained even in their secondary schools later brought in these evil tendencies to the campus. I think another effect of militarisation was that they cancelled eating in the halls of residence; then there was an increase in the number of admission to the extent that the halls became overcrowded and there was tension and abnormal behaviours. Yes, it is true that was the vision of the university, but definitely, because of the greed of the people, politicians, and the generation which was transferred to the younger generation brought about violence and barbarism. All over the world, we have confraternity, but the confraternity that believes in terrorism is no confraternity at all.
Are you saying that confraternities are Godly?

No, I’m not saying that they are Godly but I’ve said that then, it was like a carnival where you drink and have fun like kegites. You remember Professor Muyiwa Awe, Wole Soyinka and so on, there was never a time that it was recorded that they killed an innocent student or any of their colleagues but this idea of killing actually began in the later 70s after the civil war. I think it was because several things were wrong with the society and really, the university cannot stand on its own; the traits and behaviours in the society will definitely filter into the university community. We cannot just have the belief that there should be sanity at the higher level than what you have outside the campus. But be that as it may, corruption in the First Republic increased to the extent that it affected the psyche of even university lecturers. Let me also remind you that when the military came, there was a time they said all the university lecturers should move out of campus. I think it was Gowon, who said they should move out of campus.

So, the committment that was there initially was eroded, people now started thinking, Oh! this means that I have to start thinking of building my own house; I have to start looking for money to find a place for myself. Eventually, the committment to teaching and counselling of students became eroded; in fact, that was the beginning of private practice.

During the hay days of cultism, what were the roles the Chapel of the Resurrection played in curtailing their activities on campus?
One of the things we have been doing, as a people of God on campus, is to preach the gospel; to people that Jesus has come to deliver us from the bondage of Satan.Anything that is evil is of the devil. Any student who kills, who rapes and who, in one way or the other is looking for the downfall of his fellow students, is of Satan and so, there is this preaching of the gospel that people should run away from evil. Secondly, there is also the fact that we, along with the university, have an anti-cultist group in which students are enlightened about the evils of cultism. They are enlightened about the fact that the end of such association is death if they don’t change; and I must confess to you that we have so many people who have given testimonies that they were in it before and they have repented. It is a joint effort between the student groups, the Christian student groups, between the student union and also, even the Muslim groups on campus. I want to tell you that as far as Ibadan is concerned, cultism has gone down to the bearest minimum.

Apart from the aforestated, give us other contributions of the chapel to the immediate community and the larger society so far.

Our contributions to the development of this community is very enormous. There is no area that you want to talk about that the chapel has not impacted upon. Whether you talk about the lives of the students or the welfare of the teachers or the welfare of the workers. I remember several years ago when there was an industrial action involving NASU and the University of Ibadan to the extent that the council had to sack many junior workers.The university Chapel has been an arbitrator in a number of cases where there had been crises. So, in terms of conflict resolution, we’ve always been there. Secondly,we give indigent students bursary and supports every year. In fact, in some cases, we not only give bursary, we also adopt some. And as regards the welfare of staff generally, apart from caring for our members in terms of providing for some of them who cannot take care of their health, we help the sick to pay for surgery and medicine. Besides, some who are unemployed are given some money to start a trade.

The chapel has always provided succour to some of the older people in the church. The chapel is also involved in the beautification of the environment; many of our members have joined hands with our vice chancellor in ensuring a clean and habitable environment. The chapel has also gone beyond the campus to involve in national duties.We sensitised all heads of churches, Catholic and Protestants to speak and to mobilize their members to good living. Recently, we paid a courtesy visit and brought materials to the victims of the last Jos crisis.

What is the relationship between Christians as represented by the chapel and the Muslim community like?
We have a very good relationship; we discuss together, we had some civil problems in the past that is now history. The problem was orchestrated by external forces.

What problem are you talking about sir?
Well, problems like the removal of the Cross.

When was that?
That was during the tenure of vice chancellor, Professor Emeritus Ayo Banjo. We thank God that the matter was resolved amicably. We now have a cordial relationship.We work together and even invite each other to ceremonies.

Sir, tell us the vision of the chapel?
We want people to be transformed; to be able to see things the way God sees them and to be able to see our neighbour also, the way God sees them and to even recognise ourselves as God’s figure. To be able to know that I should love my neighbour as myself. And then, the chapel’s mission is to also know the perfect will of Christ because through our standard, we ought to know that we belong to Him. We want a situation that we would be like Him in terms of having compassion for the masses, the poor, the hungry and the needy in our society. Our motto is that we want to serve God and improve the value of life.

What is the state of the church in Nigeria?
Well, when we are talking about the state of the church, we are talking about the body of Christ and not referring to the buildings of the church. Myself, that brother and sister are the church. The problem we are having is individualism. In fact, that is our major problem in Nigeria. Look at the issue we had in Gombe. The Governor gave N60 million to build a mosque and gave N6 milion to the Christians to build a church. I’m very sure people over there are not united. If they were united, they would have said how could you give N60 million to the muslims and only N6 million to us here? Many of us are involved in all these evils at the National level, state, local and in other areas of life. Some of us are involved in corruption which is affecting us.

Tell us about yourself
I am Reuben Adesanya Olabode Arowolo. I am a professor here in Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Current Chairman of the Chapel of the Resurrection and also the current Chairman of University Senior Staff Housing Committee, former dean of the faculty of Veterinary Medicine, former HOD of Hermatology and Pharmacology and also Director of Teaching Hospital. I joined the University in early 70s. I thank God for knowing Jesus early enough. He’s been guiding me, my career and my home. All I have and that I am, today, is by the Grace of the King of kings.